by Alexander O. Onukwue

It is not strange to find persons who say the main problem in Nigeria is not corruption.

We are not talking about persons like Demola Olarewaju, a young erudite commentator, who believes that, while corruption is a problem, failed leadership is the real big fish that must first be fixed. And he is not wrong.

But do the mass of Nigerians who go to fellowship twice a week, minus the obligatory Sunday appearance to dance and sing praises, believe corruption is a problem?

An attempt to gauge this without an objective definition of what constitutes corruption will not be easy. The term itself means many things to different people and is actually used more by the more educated members of the population. Unless of course, you are talking about stealing money, the man on the street does not have time for your fancy use of English to distinguish the underhanded acts that happen in Oshodi from the ones that happen at Aso Rock.

The first few months of the Buhari administration were so harsh that some persons asked for corruption to return, for the Buhari Government to suspend its supposed anti-corruption fight and #BringBackOurCorruption. Since then, it has not helped that the Government has not achieved much in the said fight, after two years. whether it is EFCC or the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

The only improvement worth celebrating so far in the EFCC, to the Nigerian observer on social media, is the very savvy person behind the anti-graft’s agency Twitter handle.

So that when the Acting President talks about the need for Churches to rid themselves of dependence on corrupt people, parishioners probably turned their faces away. Does the Acting President want to spoil my plans to meet so and so member of the House of Reps after service to help me work my posting to Port-Harcourt?

Editor